High River revives Burkina's commercial gold sector
by Mathieu Bonkoungou

Reuters    Translate This Article
19 July 2007

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - High River Gold Mines Ltd has poured its first gold in Burkina Faso, reviving commercial gold mining in the West African country after an eight-year halt, the Canadian-listed company said on Wednesday.

The mine is the first of three due to be commissioned this year, kick-starting the sector in the impoverished country between Ghana and Mali, Africa's second and third biggest gold producers after world No. 1 South Africa.

High River said it had poured the first gold at its Taparko-Bouroum mine on Tuesday, although commercial production—officially defined as 30 consecutive days of operation at 60 percent of planned production—would be achieved in August.

'I think this first development is very important for the country,' David Mosher, president and CEO, told Reuters.

'Because of circumstances it never really got the same exploration attention that Ghand and Mali did ... our view is that Burkina has as much potential as those countries, and I suspect there will be more gold mines developed,' he said.

Industrial gold mining started here in the 1950s under French colonial rule, but although some artisanal panning continues, the last commercial mine closed in 1999 after gold prices sank below $300 an ounce and foreign prospectors left.

But they have come back in recent years, drawn by enhanced tax breaks included in a 2003 mining code, and rising gold prices now over $670 an ounce.

High River Gold said output from Taparko-Bouroum was expected to total approximately 60,000 ounces in 2007, and 100,000 ounces over its first 12 months of production, rising to 140,000 ounces in its third year.

The company already produces gold through a Russian subsidiary and expects to start production at its Berezitovy open pit gold mine in Russia in August or September.

High River shares were up 9 cents at C$2.95 by 1740 GMT, outperforming a wider Toronto market that was up 0.43 percent.

GOLDEN PROSPECTS

The company is also exploring at Bissa, another site in Burkina Faso which Mosher, a geologist, said he expected to be two or three times as big as Taparko-Bouroum.

'We've outlined a resource of 1.3 million ounces, and we've had additional expoloration success since,' he said. 'A realistic objective over the next 2-3 years would be to get 5 million ounces or more.'

Several other companies are also prospecting or developing mines in Burkina Faso.

Toronto-listed Etruscan Resources Inc. expects to start commissioning its Youga project and start production in October, with annual output forecast at 90,000 ounces for at least 6-1/2 years, and Semafo Inc. hopes to commission its Mana gold project at the end of 2007.

South Africa's Gold Fields is developing what it says is Burkina Faso's biggest gold deposit at Essakane, where it has estimated a resource of 3.1 million ounces and plans to complete a bankable feasibility study in late 2007.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. Reprinted with permission from Reuters. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution or Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Reuters and the Reuters Sphere Logo are registered trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. For additional information about Reuters content and services, please visit Reuters website at www.reuters.com. License # REU-1160-MES



Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google) Select a language English to Afrikaans English to Albanian English to Arabic English to Belarusian English to Bulgarian English to Catalan English to Chinese (Simplified) English to Chinese (Traditional) English to Croatian English to Czech English to Danish English to Dutch English to Estonian English to Filipino English to Finnish English to French English to Galician English to German English to Greek English to Hebrew English to Hindi English to Hungarian English to Icelandic English to Indonesian English to Irish English to Italian English to Japanese English to Korean English to Latvian English to Lithuanian English to Macedonian English to Malay English to Maltese English to Norwegian English to Persian English to Polish English to Portuguese English to Romanian English to Russian English to Serbian English to Slovak English to Slovenian English to Spanish English to Swahili English to Swedish English to Thai English to Turkish English to Ukrainian English to Vietnamese English to Welsh English to Yiddish

(Altavista babelfish) Select a languageEnglish to Chinese-simpEnglish to Chinese-tradEnglish to DutchEnglish to PortugueseEnglish to FrenchEnglish to GermanEnglish to GreekEnglish to ItalianEnglish to JapaneseEnglish to KoreanEnglish to RussianEnglish to Spanish

Send Good News to Global Good News.

Your comments.